This invention relates to a device for guiding a moving body along a tensioned cable attached at intervals to a building facade and at a given distance therefrom.
Vertical guidance devices for suspended gondolas traveling along a facade are known. The aim of these devices is to prevent the gondola from rocking, particularly under the effect of wind in high-rise installations.
According to one conventional design, these devices are produced by virtue of elements, such as stringers, attached to the gondolas, cooperating with vertical hollow sections incorporated in the structure of the facade, the ends of said elements, which correspond in profile to said sections, sliding into the latter to produce a flush fitting whenever the gondola travels up or down. The guiding assembly generally consists of two stringers per gondola, said stringers being attached at each end of the latter, and the interval between the stringers being the same as the interval between two facade sections.
In some cases the facade structures do not include such sections, which are then replaced by vertical guide cables tensioned between their ends. In these instances the gondolas are guided by these cables by means of tubes or sleeves, into which said cables are threaded, and which are attached to the end of guide stringers which form part of the gondola structures. Generally speaking, there are two guides for each gondola, and they are respectively attached by their ends.
One disadvantage of such an arrangement is that at the site of each attachment tube there is an obstacle for the gondola guiding tube seated on the same cable. This therefore makes it necessary to disconnect the guide tube and reconnect it once the attachment tube has been negotiated following corresponding movement of the gondola.